Mr. Jamal Abbas Zaidi is the Chief Executive Officer of IIRA. Mr. Zaidi has over thirty years experience in financial and general management in different countries. He has worked for a number of financial institutions including the World Bank. Prior to his appointment in IIRA, Mr. Zaidi was Executive Vice President and member of the rating committee of JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company, the largest credit rating agency in Pakistan. Before joining JCR-VIS, Mr. Zaidi was Chief Executive of a Modaraba listed on Karachi Stock Exchange and prior to that, he was Senior Executive Vice President of Pakistan’s largest leasing company, which was established jointly by the International Finance Corporation, the Asian Development Bank and the private sector. Prior to that he worked on a large World Bank project in Nigeria. He has contributed a number of papers in seminars and workshops on different topics in different countries. He has B.Com degree from Karachi University and is a fellow member of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan. He has attended several advanced courses including one under U.S. AID program in USA.

J. M. (Mike) McMullen has joined IIRA as Senior Vice President to assist with further development of the company. Most recently, he has served as President of Cumberland Capital Associates, an umbrella organization for various merchant banking and capital market development consulting activities. Mr. McMullen spent twenty-four years at Moody’s Investors Service, retiring in 1992 as Vice President, financial Institutions. During his career, he was involved with ratings for all types of issuers, including corporates, foreign municipal and governmental long and short term issuers as well as financial institutions. Mr. McMullen developed the analytical methodology to rate banks and other financial institutions that is still at the core of Moody’s rating process. He headed rating committees that decided on bank ratings in many countries. Along with product development and marketing, Mr. McMullen oversaw the initial development of Moody’s bank rating statistical data base. Among his key assignments at Moody’s was the initial planning for the company’s expansion into international markets in Europe and Japan. Mr. McMullen established Moody’s Japan KK, and served as its first chief executive officer.

Since leaving Moody’s, Mr. McMullen has been instrumental in the establishment of two domestic rating agencies: The Central European Rating Agency (now Fitch Polska S.A.) in Warsaw and Thomson BankWatch Daeil Ratings in Seoul, Korea.

He is the author of numerous articles and papers on rating analysis, and has introduced important capital market concepts in many emerging markets. Mr. McMullen graduated cum laude from Pace University in New York and completed the Executive MBA program at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University.

Nasir Ali Merchant joined IIRA as Vice President in the last quarter of 2007. He has experience of more than 12 years, having worked for globally renowned financial institutions like ABN AMRO, Bank of America and HSBC in Karachi and regional financial powerhouse like United Bank Limited and Emirates Bank International in UAE. His experience involves work in areas like financial institutions, operations, SME banking and corporate banking. He has a good knowledge about the regional economies and their dynamics.

Nasir has a distinguished academic career having completed his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 2001. Before that he has done his MBA (with finance majors) from Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan with a GPA of 3.95 (out of 4.00), having an overall gold medal and a gold medal in finance. He has completed many levels of his academic career with distinction and honors.

Dr. Roger P. Nye is the President of Global Investment Advisors, Inc. (GIA), a capital markets consulting firm which he founded in 1991. He has provided ratings advice to governments, financial institutions and corporations on six continents. Prior to GIA, he worked at Moody’s Investors Service in New York as a Senior Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group, assessing the creditworthiness of government borrowers and banks and assigning credit ratings. Dr. Nye headed the International Evaluation Department at Atlantic Richfield Company in Los Angeles over an eleven-year period and was responsible for evaluating all foreign investment projects for the petroleum and minerals company from the standpoint of country risk. He also supervised a staff devoted to global intelligence and strategic planning. Dr. Nye has published more than three dozen articles and books on investment and ratings-related topics encompassing the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. He has addressed numerous public and private forums on issues involving direct and fixed-income investment. His degrees include an M.A. and Ph.D. in international relations from Washington University and a B.A. in political science from Williams College. Postdoctoral courses in international trade and finance were completed at the University of Southern California and at New York University.

Mr. Umer Zuberi joined IIRA as Senior Financial Analyst in November 2006 and by May 2007 he was promoted to Assistant Vice President Level on which he is currently working. He is looking after rating for financial institutions and sovereigns. Prior to his appointment in IIRA he was working in Habib Bank Ltd. which is one of the largest banks in Pakistan, there his responsibilities included measuring, monitoring and controlling market & liquidity risk on banking and trading book and policy formulation for market risk management. Before joining Habib Bank he worked in a similar role and capacity at Union Bank, a bank which was subsequently taken over by Standard Charted PLC. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant in Ferguson Associates, one of the leading management consultancy firms in Pakistan. He is a CFA level III candidate and an MBA finance degree holder from Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan. He has also done his CA foundation from Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and has a B.Com degree from Karachi University. He has attended several advance courses on Risk Management and Basel Implementation.

Mr. Ali Abdulaal joined the agency as a financial analyst in 2007. He completed his Master’s degree in Economic Studies at the University of Sydney in Australia where he was engaged in extensive research on contemporary issues in economics in one of the region’s most prestigious universities. He had completed his Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Queensland in Australia. Prior to that, he attained his Advanced Banking Studies Diploma from the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF), where he also attended a number of seminars on Islamic banking and finance.

Mr. Mohammed Al-Hassar joined IIRA as Financial Analyst in October 2007. Prior to his appointment in IIRA he was working in Gulf International Bank (GIB), which is one of the largest banks in the Gulf Region, handling all matters relating to direct and syndicated financing. Before joining GIB he worked in the ministry of Finance and National Economy, (Customs and Ports division), as a senior accountant. He is an ACCA level II candidate and an M.S.c in Finance and Investment from Ulster University, Northern Ireland, U.K. He completed his B.S.c in Banking and Finance at Bahrain University in 2002.

Mr. Hussain Yusuf joined IIRA as a financial analyst in 2007. He graduated from Leeds University Business School (LUBS) in the UK with a master degree in International Marketing & Management. He also studied at the University of Reading in the UK in 2002 and was the top of the class attaining a first class honors degree. While at LUBS, he was involved in extensive marketing research projects in the UK for several multinational organizations such as: Lexus & Partners Andrews Aldridge, BR Pharmaceuticals Ltd, and British Airways.

Najam Uddin currently heads IT department of Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA). He has over 13 years experience in Management of Information Technology. Prior to his appointment in IIRA, Mr. Najam was Group Senior Executive - Operation & Systems of JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company (JCR-VIS), the largest credit rating agency in Pakistan. During his tenure in JCR-VIS Mr. Najam was deputed to work as Asst. Vice President of Credit Rating Information and Services (CRISL), the first rating agency of Bangladesh. During his career he developed and designed a number of financial rating modules. He obtained his MCS from Florida Green University, Karachi campus and an MA in Economics from Karachi University.

Mr. Saeed Ismaeel Ahmed is an Accountant at IIRA.  Prior to his appointment, Mr. Ahmed worked at New India Insurance.  Mr. Ahmed has three years of experience in accounting.  He graduated from the University of Bahrain with a B.S.c. in Accounting.

Ms. Shiny Noronha is working as Executive Assistant to the CEO at IIRA. Before her appointment in IIRA, she worked at International Islamic Financial Market, the Islamic international infrastructure institution as a Secretary to the CEO. Prior to this, she worked for 2 years as Executive Secretary to the Vice Chairman of Horizon International Group. She holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from Sri Nagappa Shetty Memorial College of Science from Bangalore University, India.

Aijaz Ahmed Niazi is a Software Programmer in IIRA. Prior to his appointment in IIRA, Mr. Aijaz was Software Programmer of JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company, the largest credit rating agency in Pakistan. He has a Bachelor in Computer Science from Petroman Training Institute, Karachi. His skills include software programming & Hardware maintenance.